More Birthday Pictures

We had a fun day celebrating Ethan's birthday with my family and the Burningham's and Gleaves. We had initially planned to have a pizza party at our house and then go swimming, but Ethan's been fighting a cold the past few days and woke up much worse that morning so we didn't feel good about taking him in the pool (btw- this means we got through 2 months of him being healthy! I'm sure its our longest stretch yet!), not to mention it was threatening rain. So we still had a fun pizza party and then we all went over to Provo and saw Ice Age. It was a fun day, the boys had a great time, and we're enjoying how occupied they are with all of Ethan's new toys! By the way- if you can't tell from the pictures, the ball from Aunt Jordan's family was the biggest hit of the afternoon. That boy loves to play with balls!

Happy Birthday Ethan!!

6 months old

10 or 11 months old- I just love his crazy face in this one!

1 year old

Today!



It's hard to believe this little pumpkin of ours is already 2 years old! We are so blessed to have Ethan in our family and enjoy him every single day. Some of his favorites right now are balls, balls, balls, balloons, playing with cars, blowing bubbles, trying to do whatever Aidan is doing, fruit snacks, climbing anywhere he shouldn't, and reading lots and lots of books. He is so full of love and happiness and we so appreciate his calm, happy demeanor (despite his early start of the terrible two's by saying "No!" to everything). We love this sweet boy so much! Happy Birthday baby boy!

Ruby

Its been a sad week... my family dog, Ruby, passed away unexpectedly on Tuesday and we miss her so much already. About a week ago, a huge lump appeared on the side of her ribs, which was initially thought to be a tumor and then we received some hope when they discovered that it was just fatty tissue that had built up. On Tuesday my parents took her in to have the lump removed and the Dr. found a tumor underneath it that was already spreading into her bones, so they had to put her down. Its amazing, especially for someone like me who is not a huge pet lover, how much she was a part of our family. It was so difficult to tell Aidan, who really loved and enjoyed her. How do you explain to these little people what it means to die? He was SO sad and had a million questions after, which gave me a good opportunity to talk to him about what it means to die. I'm sad for my parents...they just became empty nesters and I know Ruby was such a comfort to them. We will miss her!

Does anyone still read this?

I haven't been a lousy blogger- I've been on a break. :) Ok, you know its bad when your guy friend (who shall remain nameless but you know who you are...) is telling me to get this updated already. Well, I'm glad to know people care. Hopefully I can get my readers back and I'll be much more consistent with this. This spring has been so crazy and I'm grateful to see the summer here. Our life has been full, full, full- we've been busy with work, doctor's appointments, piano, doctor's appointments, playing, doctor's appointments, house projects, doctor's appointments...you get the picture. My sweet Ethan has really been through the ringer these past few months and I'm so grateful that we've actually made it 3 weeks without going to the doctor! It must be a new record for us! We've been going pretty much weekly, with some weeks of daily visits and both him and I are really enjoying his latest run of better health. It's hard to just relax and think we're over the hump, but I am trying to enjoy the time and hope it lasts it least through the summer. I love summer life because my piano teaching reduces each week by almost half and its so nice to be able to wake up and have it all done by noon and still have the day available! We've been enjoying lots of trips to our neighborhood park, taking naps and being out in the yard. I better start some summer projects soon or I might be tempted to sleep away the summer...
I'm going to be busy the next few days working to get some of our spring events on here and then hopefully I'll be good to go from here on out!

Anson and Julia's Wedding

One of the biggest things that kept us busy this spring was helping to plan Anson and Julia's wedding. They were married on April 11th and it was such a nice day. One of the nicest parts of them getting married is that my family was all able to be in the temple together since he is the youngest. We just love Julia- I am so lucky to have 2 sister in laws that I love and am good friends with! Here are a million pictures- there were too many cute ones to choose from.

Ethan likes to bump chins instead of just bumping knuckles- here he is with my mom and brother Joseph.






Aidan and McKay are just the best of friends. The other night he got so upset right before bed because he missed McKay so much.


Aidan LOVES his Uncle Anson. This is him taking a flying leap at Anson as soon as Julia and he came out of the temple and the giant hug that came after. So sweet.






The happy couple!


I love the look on this baby boy's face- can I still call him my baby if he's going to be 2 next month?!


How handsome are these boys in their outfits?! I want to dress them like this everyday. Getting them to sit still for a picture (all while holding baby Lauren) was just as crazy as it looks.










I love my brothers and sister so much and am so grateful for all their wonderful spouses. I just love that we are all so close and are such good friends!


The girls....

Meadow

We were able to escape with my family down to my sister-in-law's (Juli) family house, in Meadow, in March for a much needed relaxing weekend. We did this last year and I have really loved it. There is nothing to do but sleep, relax, play outside, eat, watch movies and then start all over again.









Despite the look on his face, Ethan was having a lot of fun on the playground. I love his hair in this picture.

My heart

Aidan (who is sitting at the table, listening to the whistling sound the straw in his sippy cup is making) pulls his ear away from his head and says: "Do you hear the ocean in here?" (Like in the shells)

Me (after putting my ear up next to his so our heads are touching side by side): "No, I don't hear the ocean. All I hear is 'I love you mom. I love you mom. I love you mom. I love you mom.' "

Aidan (pulls away to look at me): "No mom, that's my heart."


I can't even begin to express the good that has done for my heart.